Willaed lcsscott



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLARD LINSCOTT, OF WEST AUBURN, MAINE.

SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 255,438, dated March 28, 1882. Application filed January 16, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it kuowuthat I, WILLARD LINscor'r, of West Auburn, of the county of Androscoggin, of the State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Shoes; and I do hereby declare the same to be describedin the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 isa top view, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of a shoe containing my invention, the nature of which is defined in the claim hereinafter presented.

My improvement has special reference to shoes whose uppers are mainly composed of cloth-as canvas or duck, for instance--'and provided with stays of leather arranged on the outer surface of the upper and between the toe and heel re-enforces, which are also usually of leather.

In the drawings, the cloth upper of the shoes is shown at A, the-sole at B, and the heel part thereof at (J. The toe and heelre-enforces, of leather, are represented at I) an d E, they being such as are usually employed in such shoes. The re-enforces to strengthen the upper at its parts for reception of the lacing F are shown at G G, they being strips of leather arranged on the upper and fixed or sewed thereto. In my improved shoe, as represented, these lastmentioned re-enforces are continued along the upper edges of the upper to the ankle backstay H, extended upward from the heel re-enforce E.

In carrying out my improvement I extend from the toe re-enforce D to the lower part of the instep, or to the vertex of the instep-opening 0, and thence down on each side of the shoe-upper to the sole, in manner as represented, a leather stay, I, which I prefer to have in one piece with the toe re-enforce. Each of the twoside branches, or a, of this stay meets thesole midway, or about so, between the toe and the heel re-enforces, or is arranged just in rear of the widest part of the sole. The stay I, along its edges, is to be secured to the cloth upper. With the stay Imade and arranged on the cloth upper, and with the toe and heel re-enforces in manner as shown and described, the upper becomes strengthened all the way between the toe re-eui'orce and the instepopening, and thence down on both sides to the sole,where the strain on the upper is the greatest w'hile the shoe is in wear or being drawn on the foot of a person. The necessary flexibility of the upper is preserved in the parts of it where wanted to insure ease and comfort to the wearer.

I am aware that it is not new to re-enforce with leather the cloth uppers of shoes, and therefore I do not claim such in the abstract, my improvement consisting not only in a special construction of a stay or re-enforce,'butin the arrangement thereof with the cloth upper, the sole, the toe re-enforce, and the instepopening, whereby there result particular advantages. Theimprovementnot onlyprevents the cloth from being torn down at the instepopening and stretched between such and the toe re-enforce, but while the shoe is being drawn on the foot of a person causes the toe re-ent'orce to support the furcated or branched re-enforce, and the latter to prevent the cloth from being also stretched from the sole up to the instep opening, and, besides, leaves the cloth free at the ball of the foot, where it is most needed to be soft. and flexile.

What I claim as my invention is-- The described improvement in the manufacture of shoes having cloth uppers, such improvement consisting in the combination,with the cloth upper, provided with the toe and heel reenl'orces, as set forth, of the furcated or branched re-enforce or stay I, arranged to extend across the upper from the lower part of the instep or instep-opening to opposite parts of the sole, and also from said lower part of the instep or instep-opening to the toe re-en-- force, all "as set forth.

WILLARD LINSOOTT.

Witnesses:

H. A. PACKARD, CHAS. E. WING. 

